


Finding Oneself Across the Multiverse

by orphan_account



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Underfell, Alternate Universe - Underswap, Headcanon, M/M, Multiverse, edgeberry
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-08
Updated: 2016-12-19
Packaged: 2018-08-07 08:50:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 12,791
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7708684
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Undertale resets after making contact with Underswap and Underfell, causing Blue to face some of the harder parts of being a Sans. Fortunately, and perhaps a bit ironically, he finds support and comfort in Underfell.</p><p>**This grew out of head cannons that formed around Undertale and the alternate universes that it spawned, mainly Underfell and Underswap. Some things are stitched together from other's ideas while some are my own. Be forewarned that there is Edgeberry (interdimensional fontcest) and possibly other implied pairings.*</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Too Many Sanses

**Author's Note:**

> These are just my versions of characters created by others. I do not claim creation of anything other than my head cannons, but even those aren't really something that I feel can be 'owned'. Just remember that this is for fun.
> 
> Pre-warning: I don't consider myself a very punny person and science is not my strong suit. Expect this to be reflected in my writing. I also don't write in the Undertale font style as I just find it distracting to both read and write.
> 
> Please comment and kudo. If I get enough questions I may do asks at the end of chapters. I am also open to suggestions as long as they do not involve anything non-consensual.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prologue where Sans and his counterparts decide it is too confusing for them all to be named Sans.

Brains and boredom were a volatile mix. Sans had been designed with the first while countless resets had created the latter. At first it had been fascinating. The sense of deja vu had combined with his limited precognance so that it was almost like he remembered the last jumps. He took notes, of course, and experimented and did everything else a good scientist would do, but eventually the futility of everything overtook the novelty of it. Depression was quick to set in at that point, even if he still played the part of the comedian for his brother’s sake. 

It wasn’t a bad life, at least not always. He had Papyrus and his jokes and monsters were generally good company. Eventually there just wasn’t anything that felt new, though, so, when he finally couldn’t take it any longer, he decided to take matters into his own hands. Thus he ended up with a machine that didn’t do what he wanted it to, but at least it was something.

Sans had originally wanted the machine to travel between timelines or even just stabilize this one. When that failed, he figured that if there were multiple timelines then there might be multiple universes. If that was true, there might be a universe where his main problem had already been solved. At the very least maybe there was a universe where Gaster still existed so they could compare notes.

Instead of Gaster, Sans found himself, or rather he found versions of himself.

“So we’ve established that universes have multiple timelines, but each timeline doesn’t make an alternate universe.” The Sans from the universe they had designated Underfell scraped the side of his gold incisor with a bone pinky. In that universe the darkness of the underground had tainted the souls of the monsters; this was marked by the long faded scars on Underfell Sans where bone had been scratched and even cracked. “And that us all going by ‘Sans’ is confusing as shit.”

“Sans!” The youngest of the three, still bright eyed and optimistic despite his own share of resets, protested with a disapproving glare. He was standing in the corner of the workshop, well away from the machine due to his own conviction he would break it or just get in the way, with his hands firmly on his hips. “Swearing is rude.”

“Case in point,” the red eyed skeleton simply stated. “If we’re going to be doing this regularly, then we should probably come up with different names.”

Sans shrugged, following the gesture with a mischievous wink. “I always just thought of you as Grumpy and Happy.”

Both other versions of Sans exchanged a look that demonstrated how certain traits were inalienable across universes.

“Well, if we are going with human fairy tales, then you can be Sleepy,” the Sans currently known as Happy stated as if it was an insult.

The Sans currently known as Grumpy’s mouth turned into a smirk. His pointed teeth created the perfect cheshire grin. “How about shithead?”

“San… I mean Grumpy!” Once again Happy was looking at Grumpy in disapproval; he jabbed a finger at a jar with ‘swear’ scrawled across the paper taped to the glass.

“Fine, we’ll go with Dopey.” Grumpy snapped his teeth at the blue glad skeleton, chuckling to himself when Happy flinched.

“Alright, alright, no dwarves.” Sans shrugged. Something had seemed off about the names, anyway. “Coming up with names is a good idea, though. Might keep me from snapping my neck every time you decide to rattle Blue’s bones.”

Happy now called Blue’s eyes lit up like stars. He came from the universe they had deemed Underswap. In his universe, Papyrus had been born before Sans was created and being the younger brother had preserved more of his innocence and imparted the drive the other two lacked. In another twist, and the Underswap Universe had many, the power that had been siphoned from the souls to be infused into Sans had gone partially to the Underswap’s Papyrus first.

“That’s it! I’ll be Blue and he can be Red.”

“Better than fucking Grumpy,” Red muttered. “What about shithead?”

“Language!” Blue pointed to the jar again and this time Red begrudgingly complied. He threw a crumpled up piece of paper with an IOU written on it for one gold. When the swear jar had first been implemented there had been an argument that ended up with Red deciding fighting about it was too much effort. He found it much easier to just write out a bunch of IOUs to keep stuffed in his hoodie that were likely to never be redeemed.

“Now stop with the nasty looks, kid, I already got one.” Red shifted through the blanket of papers that covered Sans’s desk. “Ya get readings on any other universes, Sans?”

“Not enough to check it out. Just some base lines.”

“Wait,” Blue interrupted, “so he’s still Sans?”

Red shrugged. “He found us.”

“That… oddly makes sense.” Blue was silent for a moment as he tried to puzzle out why it made sense, but nothing really came to mind. The thought of Sans as the ‘original’ just seemed right. “But what about Papyrus?”

“What about Papyrus?” Sans asked as he absently used his magic to grab the notebook he had been tracking the universes with.

“Well, shouldn’t they get names as well?”

“Why?” Red found the notes he was looking for and smoothed them out over the other papers. “For that picnic you’ve been rambling about? Never going to happen, babybones.”

“I liked kid better,” Blue muttered. “And the picnic will happen! I, the Magnificent San… Blue, promised Undertale Papyrus we would do it and I do not break promises.”

“Which is why you shouldn’t make them.” 

Sans ignored Red; it was no secret they all took a promise to any Papyrus seriously. “So what names would you suggest? Because I am not calling your Papyrus Papy and I am  _ definitely _ not calling his Papyrus Boss.”

Red let out a short huff of a laugh. “Aw, but it makes him so happy.”

“I didn’t know he could be happy.” Blue covered his mouth when he realized what he had said. “I mean, not that I know him enough to judge, he’s just so… edgy.”

“Edge? He’d probably like that, but if you name Boss I get to name ‘Papy’.” Red said the nickname as if he was choking on it.

“What? No! That wasn’t a name and you are horrible at naming things!”

“Nope, it’s been decided.” Red shoved his hands in his pockets and sneered at Blue.

Blue’s face scrunched up. “Fine, but nothing mean or dirty.”

“Whelp, there goes his entire vocabulary,” Sans noted.

“It does limit me.” Red tapped his phalanges on his jaw as he made an act of thinking. There were plenty of things he could call Underswap Papyrus, as well as a few he’d like Underswap Papyrus to call him, but at the end of it all he was a good guy and generous with his smokes and good conversation. He eventually shrugged. “Stretch.”

“Stretch?” Blue asked, “He’s the same height as your Papyrus. If he’s not slouching, and  he’s always slouching.”

“Because it’s a stretch that he’s a Papyrus,” Red explained reflexively. It was mean. Bu it was better than admitting that was what he called Underswap Papyrus in the time they occasionally shared, talking about nothing and everything over a cigarette or the occasional joint.

Blue opened his mouth to protest, but closed it when he realized the truth of the statement. He was more like Undertale Papyrus himself and that Papyrus and Edge shared traits, though Edge was some sort of warped version of those traits. The thought led to another and Blue’s near unlimited energy seemed to drain from him as his smile fell and his shoulders sagged. “Does that mean it’s a stretch that I’m a Sans?”

The question caused Red to freeze. Blue’s crestfallen expression pulled at his big brotherly heartstrings. When Boss was younger, before Underfell had finished hardening him, he would get that same pout and uncertain stance. Even back then Red didn’t know how to make it go away.

“Nah, you’re just the best of Sans.” Sans came to his counterpart’s rescue, moving over to Blue and affectionately rubbing the younger skeleton’s skull. “We’re just lazybone prototypes. You’re a Royal Guard in training who can make a pretty tasty taco.”

“Yeah, I’m just a numbskull who can’t name things.” Red hovered awkwardly by his alternates. “We’ll go with whatever you want.”

“No, it’s ok, Red, the Magnificent Blue already forgives you.” Blue’s smile returned like a switch had been flipped and he pulled the other two into a hug that Red immediately yanked himself out of. He looked vaguely like a cat that had touched water. “The Magnificent Blue also never goes back on his word. Therefore Papy can be Stretch, but only if he agrees to it.”

“Sounds good to me.” Sans gave Blue another affectionate skull rub, ending the hug, and offer Blue the journal. “You want to see what I did find? You always seem to notice things we miss.”

“Sure.” Blue took the offered journal and Sans couldn’t help smiling at the focus given to each page. There were a lot of things he and Red were too cynical to find of worth that Blue relished in.

“Huh,” Blue said after some time of reading through the pages while Sans and Red went over the notes Red had pulled. “Did you notice this pattern?”

“What pattern?”

“Well, if you arrange the baseline frequencies of the universes in relation to the resonance of their magic it looks like they end following the Fibonacci sequence.” He held up the journal to show where he had used a blank page to draw a chart complete with cartoonish drawings of them by where he had written their universes’ designation and frequency.

“Really? I didn't notice that.” Sans took the journal so that he could take a closer look, quickly doing the necessary calculations in his head and repeating Blue’s ‘huh’.

“Probably too simple for you to notice, but the Sansational Blue leaves nothing overlooked.”

“Heh, good one.”

“Thank you. Anyway, if we place the Undertale universe as one then use the equation I wrote here,” he pointed over the journal to the corner where a jumble of number, letters, and symbols was scribbled down, “Underswap and Underfell end up the next two. It seems from there things continue to expand out to the next few that you found. They don’t look like stronger frequencies, necessarily, but different ones, possibly with more and more drastic change.”

“Underswap and Underfell seem pretty drastic changes,” Red pointed out.

“Yeah, but… maybe it's a relative thing or based on something other than changes in the timeline. Of course we don’t have the full data on other universes so it’s just theory.”

“It’s more than we had before,” Sans assured him. “Good work, kiddo. See? I knew you were version two point oh.”

“Heh.” Blue took the journal back and turned to a new page. “Can I use a page to take some notes on our and our universes’ differences? I noticed you didn’t have that.”

“Write yourself out,” Sans chuckled with another wink. There was a nagging in the back of his skull that this would reset and he would lose his other selves. They had data from each universe showing similar timeline anomalies, though Undertale showed the most. The thought was accompanied by something that he had almost all but run out of, though: hope. That was definitely something new.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -Sans was created by W.D. Gaster using fragments of the human souls that had been collected, though the result was not quite what Gaster was going for. He then gave Sans to friends/relatives (haven't decided) to adopt. Sans adopted parents later had Papyrus and raised them as brothers.
> 
> -In Underswap Sans/Blue was created after Papyrus/Stretch was born. When Stretch was young he had an accident and was able to be saved by Gaster repairing his soul with fragments from the human souls. This gave him the idea to create Blue.


	2. Sympathy and Understanding in Underfell

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Undertale has reset and Blue starts to feel more like a Sans.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: Contains depression and some bdsm implications in thoughts/dialogue.

Undertale had reset. The specifics were unknown, but the magic tied to Sans’s soul had faded in the magic infused scrimshaw scrawled on Blue’s radius. He checked it every morning, searching the delicate knotted pattern for any sign that the cyan magic had brightened. His own light blue shone steadily along with Red’s, though Blue was afraid one morning that that too would be dim. The thought of being alone and forgotten by both his alternate selves was like a slow drain on the youngest’s seemingly unique optimism.

Of course there was always Papyrus, or Stretch as Red had named him, but ever since the trace of Sans’s soul had faded on Blue’s arm, Papyrus had seemed to be mentally somewhere else. He was sleeping more and around less. Blue suspected he was spending more time at the door to the Ruins or Muffets, which were both places he had people to talk to so at least that was good. For whatever reason he thought Blue was unable or unwilling to listen and that just created a whole new problem to worry at Blue’s mind.

It all combined to make it feel like everything was slowly falling apart. Even Blue’s puzzles and his quest to bring a human to Queen Toriel began to feel like nothing but habit. So Blue did the only thing he could think to do at the time; he went to Underfell.

“He smells like Sans,” Dogamy commented after scenting the air. The other dogs growled their agreement. They were gathered around the Royal Guard’s table at Grillby’s and had stopped Blue the moment he had entered in search of Red. “Younger, though.”

Doggo grinned, or perhaps it was a snarl. Considering where he was, Blue could only assume it was both as he mentally chastised himself for thinking he could wander off. It was rude to just invite yourself into someone’s home, though. That was especially true if they weren’t home; the fact the home was technically his was a moot point.

“Much prettier, too,” Doggo grunted, “look at those nice pearly white bones. I should give them a few good gnaw marks.”

Blue kept himself from blushing by pure force of will. Alphys had taught him that half of being tough was acting tough, but he was afraid that might just escalate this situation. Still, he tried to, comically, look bigger by holding his head up and puffing out his chest.

“Touch me and you’ll have to answer to the Boss.”

Blue had once asked Red why he wore a collar. The older version of himself had laughed and yanked on the spiked accessory a bit as if showing it off.

_ “Keeps me safe from the dogs,” Red had explained as if it were the most natural thing. “As long as they believe Boss owns me, they won’t touch me for fear of being dusted.” _

Blue had ended the conversation quickly after that, but now that the dogs were hesitating, eyes narrowing and ears flattening, he was grateful for the information.

“Smells like he’s lying,” Dogaressa said as she leaned forward to get a better whiff of Blue. Just as she was getting too close for comfort, a sharp bone stopped short of striking her between the eyes. Wisps of red magic rose off of it like steam. She stilled immediately, only her eyes moving to glare past Blue. “Hello, Sans.”

The other dogs growled as their hackles raised and they bared their teeth. Their eyes had their predatory focus trained to where Red leered back at them with a toothy grin. 

“Hey, Dogaressa. Sorry to get to the point, but Boss’ll have a bone to pick with us both if I let ya hurt his new pet.”

“Pet?” Blue squeaked. He immediately regretted it when he felt Red’s leer turn to bore into him. He squashed his first instinct to try and cover with the reminder that this was not his universe. It had different rules with a high price to pay for breaking them.

“You’re right; it’s toy until he trains you.” Red knocked Blue on the back of the skull, much lighter than he would anyone else, and recalled the bone. “Come on, numbskull, no one gave ya permission to leave the house.”

Doggo chuckled, which seemed to act as the signal for the other dogs to relax. “You should put that unruly pup on his back.”

Red returned the laugh. “Not my job, but I’ll pass it on.”

A blush flared up along Blue’s cheekbones at the implications of that statement as his eye sockets went blank in shock.  For all his brother like to think he was naive, he was a nineteen year old with the Undernet. In Underswap, however, lewd stuff like that wasn’t just something to be openly talked about. That was especially true for Royal Guards, even those that were just in training. There was a certain decorum that only Alphys could really break since she was the Captain.

“Jeeze, kid, you plan on coming back anytime soon?”

“What?” Blue realized Red had already pushed him out the door into the snow. He blinked a few times before shrinking into himself. “Yeah, uh, sorry to be trouble.”

“Nah, this entire place is trouble, especially compared to that sugar coated nightmare you call home.”

They walked around the far corner of Grillby’s, Blue following Red’s lead in ignoring the monster sprawled next to the dumpster with a bottle in his hand, and took a shortcut back to Red’s living room. It was surprisingly clean, though not quite to Blue’s standards. His attention was near immediately drawn to a sock in the corner with a series of notes piled on to of it. The most prominent read:  _ SANS! YOU SHIT, PICK UP YOUR FUCKING SOCK! _

A further look revealed a simple ‘no’ beneath it. Blue had a similar exchange going on with his brother, but there was a lot less hostility involved.

Red flopped onto the couch and clicked on the TV. “So, what are ya doing here?”

Blue stood there awkwardly for a moment. Usually it was polite to wait to be offered a seat, but then he remembered who he was with and took the far end of the couch. “I guess I was lonely.”

“Don’t you have a skele-ton of friends?”

“Yes, of course, the Sansational Blue has,” he deflated when he realized he couldn’t lie to himself, alternate version or not, “a lot of acquaintances.”

The admission pulled Red’s attention from the television where some twisted version of Napstaton’s cousin was gleefully performing mild forms of torture on contestants who answered questions wrongly but it was still early in the game. Blue decided he really didn’t want to see what the final round entailed.

“No one I can talk to, at least,” Blue continued. He shrugged, suddenly unsure what he was even doing here. “Not like I can talk to you, I guess.”

“And how can you talk to me?”

“Like a brother?” Blue wrung his hands, vowing he wasn’t going to let himself break down in front of Red. 

“What about Stretch?”

“He’s, uh… I don’t know.”

“Uh-huh. Well, I’m a horrible listener and sympathy and understanding ain’t something you come to Underfell for, but you’re free to hang out. Just don’t go outside without Boss or I.”

“Ok.” Blue brightened. Somehow just being welcomed in Red’s own way made him feel better. The feeling brought courage so he decided to venture forward. “Do you mind if I talk even if you don’t listen?”

“As long as I’m not expected to do anything, you can do whatever you want.”

“Heh. Lazybones.” Blue thought he saw the start of a grin on Red’s face, but it was gone before he even knew if it was really there. 

Red settled into the couch and turned his attention half-heartedly to the television as Blue began to talk. He wasn’t really sure what to talk about so he just talked about what he would talk to his brother about. Everything he started sort of fell flat, though.

“You doing ok there, babybones?”

The sound of Red’s voice made Blue realize he had gone quiet. His first thought was to just smile and play it off with some lame excuse, probably in the form of a pun, but he couldn’t lie to himself when his alternate was staring right at him.

“I just… I feel numb and everything has felt like a struggle and I try to stay positive for Papy, but I miss Sans and I can’t…” He cut himself off when the threatening tears started to choke his voice. He shouldn’t babble and Red certainly didn’t need his problems, especially when his own universe was such a dark place.

“Can’t what?” Blue had Red’s full attention now. The older Sans had sat up and turned off the television to make that apparent. He was all too familiar with this. For him it hadn’t been such a flip, however, since he had never had the enthusiasm Blue had. Well, at least not about as many things.

“I can’t stop thinking that none of it matters.”

The chuckle that came from Red was low and hollow and accompanied by a partial grin. His grin only widened at Blue’s look of dismay. “Sounds like you’re more of a Sans than I thought, kid. I gave up a long time ago. So did Sans. Hell, I think it was the reason he finished that fucking machine and found us. Just came out the other side of it, you know?”

Blue shook his head. “Not really.”

“Course not.” Red scratched his jaw and flopped back down into the groove in the cushions that fit him perfectly. Blue waited for an explanation, but none came. Just as he was about to fill the silence himself, the door slammed with an accompanying yell.

“Sans! You lazy shit! You left your post AGAIN.”

“Sorry, bro, I got  _ drugged _ away.”

“Ha-hah,” the Papyrus Blue had named Edge replied with sarcasm dripping from each syllable. He stalked into the room with his attention honed in solely on his brother. “You know how much I loathe when you let that side job interfere with manning your post. What if... Oh,” Edge stopped when he noticed Blue, “hello, other Sans.”

Blue looked up at the tall skeleton who seemed to be made entirely out of sharp angles. He couldn’t help but think about the quick exchange between Doggo and Red earlier.  The thought made his soul beat just a little faster as his imagination wandered to a place where sharp teeth dragged along his clavicle.

“Hello, Edge,” he managed to answer without sounding like he was thinking such wrong things.

Edge’s eye sockets narrowed as his attention turned back to his brother. “I hope you had sense to not get him involved in your dealings,” he practically hissed.

Red waved the agitation aside like it was nothing more concerning than a fly. “Course not, bro, I had already given Grillbz the stuff and was heading back to my post. The dogs were on break, though, and seemed pretty intent on jumping his bones so I intervened.”

Edge’s glare turned to the direction of the door. For a moment, Blue wondered if he was going to go after the dogs himself. “Did they now?”

“Kid seemed to be thinking of his metatarsals pretty well, though. Said they would have to answer to you. Of course they backed off at the threat of the Great and Terrible Papyrus.”

The flattery soothed Edge’s temper and his stance relaxed, though he still very much kept a predatory air about him. His gaze softened as he turned back to Blue.

“Well, I am glad you are alright. I am sure the dogs found your bones very,” his eyes lingered over the few places where Blue’s battle body left his bones exposed, “tempting. Will you be staying for dinner?”

“I…” Internally, Blue was screaming loud enough he wondered if the other two could hear him screaming. There was just so much wrong with the way his soul was fluttering when Edge was sizing him up. Tempting. He had said tempting and Blue couldn’t convince himself that he had meant just to the dogs. “I can’t. Papy will wonder where I am.”

“Oh? Your brother doesn’t know where you are? Interesting. Another time, then.” Edge took the two steps towards the kitchen that put him in reach of Red and gave the skeleton a swift thwap on the skull. “Make sure he gets home safely, Lazybones, and don’t you dare come back smelling like that ash tray.”

“Yeah, yeah, Boss.” Red rubbed where his skull had been hit, but his expression told Blue that this was just a normal exchange between the two. He could only assume that in Underfell hitting was a show of affection. “Come on, kid. Wouldn’t want Stretch to go to bed hungry.”

“He probably would just go to Muffets.” Blue shrugged. He didn’t want to admit that the thought actually bothered him. He should be happy his brother had people to talk to. It didn’t matter that it wasn’t him. “Her food is better than mine, anyway.”

“Maybe, but believe me, kid, he would miss you. You’re the world to him.”

Blue shoved his hands in his pockets and shrugged. He knew; it just made it more important for him to keep smiling.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -Red is a drug manufacturer and dealer as his side job rather than running a hotdog stand and whatever else it is Sans does. Grillby is his partner in Snowdin. He would never use himself or let anyone he cares about use, but figures if idiots want to pay to ruin their lives it's not his problem.
> 
> -Blue understands that Underfell is not his universe and so does not enforce his 'no bad language' rule.


	3. Knock for Something

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stretch talks with the old man behind the door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Implied Papyrus/Asgore either platonic or romantic depending on how you squint.
> 
> If I miss any warnings before any chapters please let me know so that I can make the proper edits. Also, thank you for the comment, smallpersiankitten. I had this half done for a while and your nice comment helped me find the motivation to finish it.

Papyrus shuffled through the snow blanketed forest of Snowdin towards the door to the ruins. His bones felt like a damp coat, the heavy chill of it making it tempting to just rest against a tree and sleep. At least the gaps in his memory caused by sleep were familiar; these current gaps were foreign. At first he had thought they were the due to another reset, but after catching sight of the scrimshaw glowing with magic both foreign and familiar on his brother’s arm he had known it was something different this time.

“Knock knock.” He rapped his knuckles against the worn stone and waited for the silence of the forest to be broken by an answer. When none came, he flopped down against the wall and pulled out a cigarette. He really should stop, if for no one else than Sans, but he wasn’t a quitter. Sometimes he wished he was.

After taking a long drag and letting the smoke escape out the gaps behind his teeth and his nasal cavity he raised his hand to try again.

“Who’s there?” The voice behind the door was deep and soothing. Papyrus had grown to love it in their time talking. Sometimes he even guiltily imagined it reading him a bedtime story on the nights when insomnia got the better of him.

“Ya.”

“Ya who?”

“Wow, didn’t know you would be so excited to see me.”

The voice laughed and after a moment there was a knock from inside the ruins.

“Knock knock.”

“Who’s there?” Papyrus took another drag from his cigarette. The taste conjured up memories of eyes alight with red magic and jagged teeth. At least that he still remembered.

“Avenue.”

“Avenue who?”

“Avenue learned that I’m always happy to see you.”

Papyrus laughed more from the corniness of the joke than any humor in it. It use to all just be corny jokes, but Asgore could read Papryus even if he couldn’t see him and eventually it became jokes scattered among the types of conversation Papyrus was afraid to have with anyone else.

“I forgot someone,” he started after listening to nothing but the quiet that was only found in the forest of Snowdin.

“And who did you forget?”

“Myself,” he let the thought hang before forcing himself to continue, “and my brother. At least, I forgot versions of us.”

“Ah, the alternate universes. I’m still not sure I understand how that works.”

Papyrus exhaled another rib cage full of smoke. “It’s the acrobat and the flea,” he explained. “A tightrope has many sides, but the acrobat can only travel back and forth along one of them. The flea can kind of go anywhere it pleases, though. You just have to figure out how to be the flea.”

“Sounds quite strange.”

“I’ve heard of stranger things.” The skeleton studied the way the smoke from his cigarette twisted up into the air. “Anyway, it seems to have turned out that if one of the universes resets, those are the time anomalies…”

“I remember,” Asgore interjected, voice calm and warm and encouraging. The timbre was a low rumble that soothed Papyrus like how he imagined hot tea warmed fleshy monsters.

“Yeah, well, if that happens it seems to take our memories of that universe and anyone in it. Just ‘poof’,” he made the gesture of something popping out of existence with his free hand, “gone.” 

“That must be very difficult for you. How did you remember?”

“I didn’t, Sans did.” That made it worse. Sans should be worried about getting into the Royal Guard and impressing Alphys and what new taco recipe he was going to inevitably ruin, not all of this interdimensional stuff. That was Papyrus’s thing.

“Then how did he remember?”

“He has this thing carved into his arm that uses the magic from each of his alternate selves to ‘back up’ their memories. They have to actively access the memories if they go blank and it’s untested, but he’s pretty confident it will work. Apparently it works just fine at making your ‘back ups’ not forget you.”

Many sleepless nights had been spent trying to remember anything about this other Sans and universe his brother had called Undertale. There was nothing, though. He didn’t even get that deja vu flash that happened when something from the other timelines came to him. No face, no nightmares, nothing beyond what Sans had told him. It was like trying to remember a character from a book when he had only read the back cover.

“Why don’t you have one?”

Papyrus tapped the ash off the end of his cigarette. That was the big question with an answer Papyrus didn’t really like. “Red said it had to be him. You’re only compatible with your other selves and he wasn’t putting his brother through that until he knew it would work.”

“I see.”

The way Asgore said those two words told Papyrus he didn’t have to explain further. Sans had gotten himself into some interdimensional mess and if Red wouldn’t submit his own brother, who was used to pain, to the scrimshaw until he knew it would work then what kind of failure was Papyrus for letting his own innocent little brother go through it? They hadn’t even told him when they did it or let him be in the room for support.

“Do you think Sans misses them?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, from what from what you have told me of your brother, he seems the type to take the friendships he makes very seriously. How is he handling remembering monsters that don’t remember him?”

“Fine. Same Sans.” Papyrus hadn’t noticed anything different, at least. Sans was still doing all of the things he usually did. He was checking his puzzles and making tacos and training with Alphys. He might be watching Naptsaton a bit more or sleeping a little longer, it was hard to tell considering how late Papyrus himself slept, but that could be for any number of reasons. “He hasn’t said anything, at least, and he’s not good at hiding his emotions. I would know if something was up.”

“You know him better than I do.” A smile came through in Asgore’s voice. Papyrus could almost imagine the overly knowing look in his eyes. They had shared tea a few times before on particularly bad days so Papyrus knew the color of those eyes and the way they crinkled at the corners when he gave that smile. It was still beyond him what made Asgore decide when the skeleton needed a cup of tea and someone to share it with, but he found himself wishing this was one of those times.

“Nyeh, of course he could just not want to taco ‘bout it. Might just tell me ‘it’s nacho problem’ if I tried.” The conversation was getting to be too heavy and it was all the same things that had rattled around his skull night after night. Giving them voice gave them merit, but he was afraid speaking about his thoughts too much would give them a power he didn’t want them to have.

Asgore let out a half-stifled laugh. “Sorry if I got jalapeno business, but lettuce move on. If you want to.”

Papyrus put his cigarette out on the ground beside him. It had started to snow, a byproduct of the cooling system for the Core, but skeletons didn’t have to worry about such things as the cold as long as their soul and any summoned extensions of it were protected.

Boney knuckles knocked on the rough stone door. “Knock knock.”

“Who’s there?”

“Etch.”

“Etch who?”

“Gesundheit.”

Asgore laughed and despite not being able to feel cold, Papyrus felt warmth spreading through his bones.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -Motivation and a healthy ego or an innate Papyrus thing. In Underswap, however, Stretch just applies it internally to the use of his powers and his self confidence. This is why he appears to be stronger than Blue as well as more mellow than Papyrus or Edge.
> 
> -The royal family in Underswap is something I've seen a few things about, but here is the Across the Multiverse version:   
> Frisk was the first fallen child and upon discovering their ability to reset started to abuse it for their version of the greater good. This eventually included a timeline where they decided to make the ultimate sacrifice and convinced Asriel to take their soul so he could go cross the barrier. The humans killed Asriel and he returned just in time for his dust to be spread on the golden flowers. The death of her children changed Queen Toriel and she vowed to collect the souls needed to break the barrier and free her people. Asgore supported her at first, but with each soul Toriel seemed to lose more of herself. Finally, Asgore was no longer able to stand idly by and gave an ultimatum with an answer he did not expect. At Toriel's request, they divorced and he went to live in the ruins where he tries to prepare any child who falls into the Underground in the hope that they will be the one to remind the queen who she really is. Chara has not yet fallen into the Underground and all time anomalies in Underswap are caused by Flowey.
> 
> I'm going to try and post some of the works that have influenced my head cannons going forward as well. For this chapter see https://tmblr.co/ZZ9Rhp29psJcD by The Grinning Kitten.


	4. Cats Go to Purrgatory

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Edge will ask Red to take him to Underswap for one thing and it is not the Annoying Cat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Edgeberry (aka interdimensional fontcest) starts

Friendship was something difficult to come by in Underfell and love, at least the type that was not an acronym, was near non-existence. When everything came down to power and safety what might look like a friendship or love was usually an alliance or, for lack of a better term, servitude. The Papyrus known as Edge wouldn’t have actually counted anyone but his brother as beyond that until Blue.

From the start the alternate version of his brother had been intriguing. He was so different from anyone Edge had ever met with his bountiful energy and apparent naivety. Monsters like that simply did not survive in Underfell. 

Then there was his pristine ivory bones. Edge couldn’t even imagine how a monster got to Blue’s age without any marks. He found himself fantasizing about being the first to marr those perfect bones with marks of his lust. Stretch would certainly have a fit, but it would be worth it; especially since it was becoming increasingly rare to find another skeleton. Monsters made of flesh were simply not as satisfying. Their touches felt dulled and they absurdly complained about skeletons being boney while they themselves were far too soft.

As Blue had started spending more time in Underfell, however, Edge found himself becoming quite enamored. Blue met all of his standards and was almost annoyingly eager to help. He assisted Red with chores that would never have gotten done otherwise and enjoyed cooking with Edge. On occasion he would even bring a baked treat from Muffet’s to share. His knowledge of puzzles was even impressive, though his pacifist views got tiresome.

“You want to go to Underswap?”

Edge’s shoulders were set rigidly in their sockets. He should have known that his brother would not make this easy. Unfortunately, his inability to take shortcuts himself left him reliant on Red if he wanted to cross universes. 

“Yes.” Few people dared deny Edge, but Red was certainly one of them.

“Well, maybe if ya ask nicely.” Red broke into laughter at the way his brother’s face distorted at the thought. “C’mon, Boss, it won’t kill ya.”

The angular skeleton crossed his arms and glared daggers at his sibling. “No, but it might kill you.”

“That wouldn’t get you what you want now, would it?” The smirk on Red’s face had Edge debating making the cracks on it symmetrical. He was far too cocky for his own good and better Edge take him down a notch than anyone else. “If I’m going to take you to Underswap, you need to show me you can play by Underswap rules.”

Edge ended his attempts to intimidate his brother. They never worked. “Underswap rules are crap.”

“Blue doesn’t think so.” Red raised a brow bone as he waited for a response. It wasn’t hard to miss the way Edge looked at Blue. If Blue wasn’t giving his own starry-eyed glances, Red would have probably made sure his brother ceased his attempts at flirting. Unlike seemingly everyone else, though, Red had a feeling Blue could handle himself just fine if needed. Of course that didn’t meant Red wasn’t going to have some fun with the situation.

“Fine.” Edge grit his teeth. “May we please go to Underswap.”

“If you don’t say anything about me hanging out with Stretch; no matter what I end up smelling like.”

“What? No. Getting the ashtray smell out of your laundry is impossible.”

Red shrugged. “Well, if that’s how you feel, then I think I’m going to go take a nap.” He turned, only to be stopped by a bone bursting up in his path.

“Don’t you dare. I asked nicely and if… if smoking with that stoner trash bag makes you happy then I suppose I can get over the smell.” Every word was painful to get out, but they were said and that was enough for Red.

“Heh, see? That wasn’t so hard.” Red winked and started to his workshop. One corner was dedicated to his side business. To the naive observer it may appear to be for chemistry experiments, but Edge was no naive observer. He never would have mistaken the plants that took up another corner of the room as an interest in agriculture, either.

“This place is a mess.” Edge eyed the wires and various parts strewn across the papers that were scribbled with notes written in wingdings. Edge had no idea what the notes said. It was the language of scientists and something he had no need for.

“Every good genius has a messy work space,” Red dismissed as he started up the machine.

“You must certainly be a prodigy, then.”

Red flashed Edge a grin. “I like to think so. Almost a relief to know that I’m not completely one of a kind.”

No response came from Edge. He still considered himself one of a kind, mostly because the thought that in any universe he had the potential to become a useless weed-bag was absurd. It was true he and Stretch had near identical bone structure, but that ultimately didn’t mean anything.

The machine whirred to life after a few moments and a well placed kick. Once it had warmed up sufficiently, Red grabbed Edge’s hand and took them through the enhanced shortcut. It was an unpleasant experience that felt akin to one’s soul freefalling from an unimaginable height. Of course since Red mentioned nothing of the discomfort Edge certainly wasn’t going to.

Once the feeling dissipated and the machine quieted, they stepped out into a dimly lit room. Even with the lack of light, however, Edge could tell it was much more organized than Red’s disaster of a workshop. It seemed either his Underswap counterpart was tidier than his manner of dress entailed or Blue had some hand in the goings on down here. A light turned on with a flick of Red’s hand.

“You’ve got to be shitting me,” Red murmured and the underlying growl in his words grabbed Edge’s interest. The shorter skeleton quickly went to the table and opened a journal that looked to be of no particular importance. His red eye glowed brighter as he flipped through the pages. “How the fuck does he still have this?”

“Have what?” Edge looked over his brother’s shoulder. The pages were scrawled with wingdings and some other symbols that were not recognizable.

Red startled as if he had forgotten his brother was even there. “Nothing, Boss. Just something Stretch and I need to have a chat about.”

Edge narrowed his eye sockets. “You know I don’t like your secrets, Sans.”

“Yep, I just don’t care.” He pocketed the journal. “Why don’t ya go see if Blue is home? I’m sure that’s the only reason you wanted to come to this joke of a universe.”

“Perhaps I plan on taking it for my own,” Edge countered. He had learned some time ago it was pointless to try and pry some secrets out of his brother. “Surely this Queen Toriel Blue so fondly speaks of would be easy to overthrow.”

“Heh, just remember it’s the ones you least suspect. Also: Underswap rules.”

Edge huffed as they headed up the stairs. “Yes, yes, less murdery and more friendly. The Greatest Papyrus is quite capable of putting on airs.”

“Yeah, well, don’t forget to help little old ladies cross the street. Now since you’re so capable, I’m going to Muffet’s.” Red gave a single wave over his shoulder before he vanished into a shortcut, leaving Edge alone in the snow.

Realizing that he was sneering at where his brother had been, Edge tried to smile. It felt wrong and as he rounded the house he caught sight of his reflection in the window. He looked more deranged than he did friendly. There were definitely monsters that even he gave a bit of a wider berth with the same kind of grin. He attempted to soften the smile to no effect. It was quite irksome. Blue smiled all the time and even Red smiled on occasion. It should be simple for someone as great as Edge was.

“Useless expression,” he grumbled before stalking to the front door. He didn’t need to look friendly. Indifferent to those below him, and most were below him, was perfectly fine. Looking friendly would only encourage people to talk to him, anyway, and one as great as him didn’t need to be popular or liked. Being feared and respected was all that mattered, anyway. Underswap rules be damned. It was a silly place with only one thing in it worth his time.

Edge knocked on the door. Given the time of day, he expected Blue to have returned from patrol. His own patrol had been completed some time ago, after all, and he had little doubt his work in Underfell was much more strenuous. In Underfell they had actual threats; here Edge doubted they ever saw anything more than a cat stuck in a tree.

“Mrow.”

Edge looked down at the feline that seemed to be conjured by his thoughts. It looked up at him with piercing blue eyes and repeated it’s greeting.

“Annoying creature,” Edge muttered, raising his hand to try the doorknob. It was unlocked and Edge added giving Blue or his useless trash bag of a brother a stern lecture on the importance of locking doors. Even if Underswap was a ‘safe’ place, it was better to err on the side of caution. Just as he turned the knob, however, he felt paws on his leg.

“Yeowch!”

Surprise more than pain caused Edge to yelp as the annoying cat dragged its claws down his leg as if he were a scratching post. He immediately swiped his hand down to grab the cat, but it was frustratingly quick. It scampered to a safe distance then looked back at him with a content squint.

“You are worse than that mangy dog,” the skeleton snapped. He was preparing to send a bone attack at the cat when he remembered where he was. Attacking small animals was probably frowned upon here; even if they started it.

Edge turned back to the door, but as soon as he opened it the cat darted forward and weaved between his legs. This was followed by a string of curses as Edge stumbled forward, managing not to fall only due to his well-honed reflexes. 

“I will have your pelt,” he hissed. 

The cat, for its part, was unimpressed. It simply gave a chirpy series of meows before turning to trot out of the room with its bushy tail held high.

“Nyeh-heh, you better run from the Great and Terrible Papyrus.”

“Papy? Oh, hi Edge.”

Edge’s attention immediately snapped to the couch where Blue looked back at him. There were traces of old magic creating faded bags under his eye sockets and his eyelights were dull. The sight caused Edge to forget the nuisance of a cat in favor of concern for the smaller skeleton.

“Were you sleeping, Blue?”

“Uh… Just a quick nap.” Blue scrambled to stand up and rub the sleep out of his eyes. “My puzzles were all set and Dogaressa said she could cover my patrol and… What are you doing here, anyway?”

Edge studied Blue for a moment. Red had long ago given up making such excuses for his naps, but Edge could remember something similar from when they were younger. 

“I came here to see the stars you and Red keep going on about,” he expertly lied. What he had really come for could wait until Blue seemed more like himself.

“Don’t you have them in Underfell?”

“I am sure they are not as impressive and it is near impossible to enjoy them while constantly on guard.” That wasn’t a complete lie. It was hard to find such things as staring at glowing rocks enjoyable when anticipating being attacked. Murder may not be common due to the strict eye-for-an-eye laws, but displays of strength and robbery certainly were.

“Well, I should probably make dinner, but I’m sure Pap… Stretch will just go to Muffets if I don’t.” Blue spared an uncertain glance at the kitchen. To Edge, it looked like he was more torn by a sense of duty than an actual desire to cook. He found that as worrisome as the younger skeleton taking a nap.

“There is no accounting for taste,” Edge dismissed. He stepped closer to Blue and tilted his chin up so their eyes met. “I would enjoy it if you made me dinner after we see the stars. You talk so much of your tacos that I find myself craving them.”

For a moment, Blue’s mind stopped working. It was not in the way that would have caused his eye sockets to go blank, but there was certainly a skip as he processed things.

“Like a date?”

Edge’s mouth turned into a slow smile. It was not the deranged forced smile of earlier or even the smile of a predator who knew their prey was caught. It was just a smile brought forth by the pleasantness of the idea of a date with Blue.

“If you are asking,” he finally said, “then yes; like a date.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -Edge is wrong in thinking he never had the potential to end up as Stretch. Alternate versions of characters go by a 50% Nature/50% Nurture idea. So even though a lot may appear to be different, it is mostly due to outside factors such as upbringing, age, and environment.
> 
> -Skeleton monsters are unique in that their souls are naturally concentrated where as fleshy monsters have their souls flowing through their bodies. While monsters made of flesh can will their souls to concentrate in order to manifest them, Skeletons can do the opposite to mimic a sense of touch and taste.


	5. A Bone to Pick

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Red goes to Muffet's for a talk with Stretch

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: Not-Honeymustard, Deviation from seemingly commonly accepted fan-canon

For a bakery, Muffet’s was creepy. Outside it was just as quaint and cheery as any other building in Snowdin. Inside, however, was an arachnophobe’s nightmare. What looked to be lace curtains from outside were actually spiderwebs. More webs created stencil-like patterns over the brick walls and were strewn across the wood beam ceiling. The silky threads glinted in the dim glow of the lamps as spiders scurried among them. It was also enough that Red would have taken his hoodie off if he had skin. Near the door, other patrons had all hung up their jackets and sweaters beneath a sign that kindly directed any complaints to Muffet’s pet.

“At least some things never change,” Red muttered to himself as he scanned the room. Stretch’s bright orange hoodie wasn’t hard to spot among the shades of purple that made up the decor. 

“Ahuhuhu, welcome to Muffet’s, dearie.” The spider-woman smiled at Red from behind the counter, her eyes all blinking in succession as he climbed onto the stool beside Stretch. Somewhere in the back of his skull Red heard a voice whisper ‘welcome to my parlor, said the spider to the fly’ and he decided it was apt. “What may I get you?”

“Just a coffee.”

“And you must have a spider donut with that,” Muffet added with an unnerving smile. “I will start you a tab.”

Before Red could protest, Muffet pointedly turned away from him. He had the distinct feeling that such add ons were common. His suspicion was confirmed by the dry laugh from the skeleton next to him.

“I’ve been trying to pay my tab off since we arrived in Snowdin,” Stretch mused, tapping a phalange against the side of his mug. It was made of glass with a honey colored liquid in it garnished with a slice of apple. “She just keeps adding things.”

“Should probably stop coming here, then.”

Stretch shrugged. “The food is good.” He took a drink like he would take a drag from his cigarette. “So, what brings you to my neck of the universe?”

“Doesn’t really matter now.” As fun as it would be to see Stretch freak out about Boss’s less than pure interest in his little brother, something else had come up. Red took the journal from Stretch’s lab out of his hoodie and placed it on the bar between them. “Want to see a magic trick?”

Stretch watched with his usual lazy indifference so Red flipped the journal over. He opened it to reveal pages covered with notes and equations.

“Looks pretty mundane to me,” Stretch said before taking another drink. “Just a bunch of poorly hidden notes.”

“Ah,” Red continued with a Cheshire grin, “but we both know better, don’t we?” If Stretch wanted to play, then he could play. He rotated the journal to face away from them. “Now apply a little magic and… open says-me.”

Red’s eye flared with magic and parts of the ink glowed a sludgy black in response to reveal Dr Gaster’s true notes. He flipped through them, stopping on a page with a drawing of a skeleton surrounded with human souls. The rest of the page was covered with notes written neatly in wingdings.

“Nifty trick,” Stretch drawled.

There was a crisp snap as the journal was closed. “Yeah, ‘nifty’.” Before Red could continue, Muffet placed a mug and a plate with a donut down in front of him.

“Here you are, dearie.”

“What the shit is this?” Red gestured to the top of the coffee where white foam had been made into a web. At least he assumed it was coffee; the coloring was a lot lighter than he would prefer.

“That is our coffee. Actually, ahuhuhu, it is a latte. Regular coffee is just so boring, isn’t it? Usually I find it quite insulting for anyone to be stingy enough to order ‘just a coffee’, but since you seem to be friends with Papyrus I thought I would let it slide.” The spiders making their way to the bar did not go unnoticed.

“Awfully generous of you.” 

Red’s good eye scanned what he could without moving his head. The threat that lingered in the air here was actually strangely comforting. It reminded him of home. Red took a slow sip, not letting his guard down as more spiders moved across the webs that decorated the ceiling and walls towards their mistress.

“Actually, that’s pretty damn good.”

“Ahuhuhu, of course it is.” Muffet flashed him a smile before waltzing away to her next victim.

Red tore off a piece of the donut and popped it into his mouth as he waited for the spiders to retreat. “So how much can I expect to be shaken down for?”

“Seven gold for the donut and eighteen for the drink,” Stretch responded with a dismissive shrug, “Just don’t buy them in Hotland.”

“Thanks for the heads up.” A pause passed between them as Red waited to see if Stretch was going to give up their little game of cat and mouse. The silence was a pretty resounding no. “So how much does Blue know?”

“About what?”

“You know about what, you ass.” Red growled through gritted teeth. “When I first met him I figured he just didn’t talk about it. It’s not exactly something that comes up in conversation, you know? Now that he’s been coming to Underfell for weeks, though, I’m starting to think you’ve just been keeping him in the dark.”

There was a flash of orange in Stretch’s right eye. “Sans has been going to Underfell?”

“Thought you knew.” Red tossed back his drink and decided he would see if he could have a shot of whiskey added to it next time. Of course he knew perfectly well that Blue wasn’t telling his brother about his visits; he just wanted to put a little pressure on that sore spot.

“Why?” Stretch’s grip had tightened on his mug and Red recognized the way he coiled into himself. It was one of the tells that Stretch shared with Boss when something was chipping away at him.

“To hang out, mostly. Talks my non-existence ear off sometimes, too.” Red chomped on his donut. “Guess that’s what happens when you can’t trust your own brother.”

“Sans trusts me.”

“To do what? Keep secrets and coddle him until you get him dusted?”

The next few moments were quick. Stretch’s eye lit up, but Red’s reflexes were faster. He grabbed the other skeleton and took them through a shortcut. As they came out onto the snowy path, Stretch’s soul gave a soft ‘ping’ as it turned blue. A sharp downward motion of Red’s hand had the taller skeleton pinned in the snow under the weight of his soul.

“Hit a nerve, did I?” Red’s eye blazed as he strode towards Stretch. “Figured you would expect Blue to trust you with everything. That’s what brothers do, right?” He reached into Stretche’s hoodie to extract his lighter and a pack of cigarettes. He still wasn’t quite sure where he kept finding the damn things. He lit one and took a long drag before blowing the smoke out the corner of his mouth. “Took Boss forever to accept that wasn’t the case.” He procketed the lighter and cigarettes and flicked his hand, bringing Stretch to his knees so that they were eye to eye. “Doesn’t go both ways for you, though, does it? You want the whole enchilada: Blue to trust you with everything while still getting to keep your secrets.”

“Let me go, Red.”

“Nah, I have trust issues.” Red’s gold tooth flashed in his toothy maw as blue bones sprung up around Stretch. He had forgotten how good power felt. So much of his life was keeping himself contained to avoid attention. In Underfell, power was constantly challenged and he and his one HP were content to leave that burden to his brother. “Now, how much does Blue know?”

Stretch glared at him for a long moment. He knew he was helpless. With his soul blue and the bones there was little he could do that would not risk gravely injuring Red. His pride made him reluctant to accept that he had gotten so quickly defeated.

“I haven’t told him anything,” Stretch finally conceded. “I was supposed to. Dr Gaster gave me the journal before the experiment in case anything went wrong. Then everything did.”

Red processed the information hidden between the lines. Blue was quite a bit younger than his counterparts so it made sense he would not have been old enough to be Dr Gaster’s assistant. That was when Red had found out the truth about his powers and creation so Stretch must have been the lucky proxy.

“So because Baby Bones was too young, you got the assistant position from ‘dear old dad’ and everything else once he disappeared.”

“Pretty much the bare bones of it. Then after everything happened… I needed to protect him, but I don’t coddle him! I’m not going to get him dusted… am I?” His voice cracked at the thought and suddenly the magic holding Stretch’s soul vanished along with the bones leaving him to slump forward, hands sinking into the snow. He stood up and brushed himself off.

“You know this place?”

Stretch looked around. They were by the river, but there was nothing particularly special about this place that he knew of. He slowly shook his head.

“I found his dust here. It’s a fuzzy memory, being from a timeline anomaly and all, but the image of his dust covered scarf managed to stick pretty well.” The bite was gone from his voice, making him sound more defeated than Stretch had thought possible, even for Red.

“Wait...” The taller skeleton’s eyes snapped up to meet Red’s. “Edge was killed?”

Red let out a humorless chuckle. “Yeah, happened to Undertale Papyrus, too, according to that Sans. Demonic child comes out of the ruins with a toy knife of all things.”

“I’m- I’m sorry, Red, I didn’t know.”

“Course you didn’t. Everything is sugar and spice and everything nice here, right?” Red took a long drag from the cigarette to hold the smoke until it seeped out the cavities in his skull. “Anyway, next time I saw a child come out of the ruins I made certain they were dead where they stood.” 

Stretch’s eyes widened at how casually Red admitted to murder. He knew things were different in Underfell in theory, at least. Red had told him about why Edge was the way he was and some of what they needed to do daily to survive. That wasn’t murder, though, and to hear it said with such apathy sent a chill through his bones.

“Why are you telling me this?”

“Because one day a human with determination in their eyes might come to Underswap and if that happens, I’m pretty sure you won’t be able to protect Blue.” A bone finger tapped the ash from the end of his cigarette. “There seem to be certain inalienable similarities between the universes and so far a human dusting a Papyrus is two for two. Not the best thing to base a hypothesis on, but it is what it is.”

Stretch wished for the heaviness of his soul being blue over the way it now twisted.

“So, I’m going to make this easy for ya. Either you tell Baby Blue all about him being an amalgamation of human soul fragments,” Red flicked the cigarette towards the snow that banked the trail, “or I do.”

“Could you?” Stretch’s expression lit up in a way that Red completely off guard. It was such an open and hopeful look in response to something that was meant as a threat that Red didn’t quite know how to process it. “You get it in a way I can’t.”

Red scraped the side of his gold tooth with his pinkie. “Don’t you have your own soul fragments?”

“Filling the cracks, yeah, but I still have my own soul. What do I even tell him? ‘Sorry, bro, you aren’t a real boy’?”

“Fuck, Stretch, even I think that’s harsh.” 

There had been many times where the thought that he somehow wasn’t real had latched onto Red, draining his already low will to go on. He was an experiment. On top of that, he was a failed experiment. The souls hadn’t grown back the parts taken from them and while they were able to be grafted together, the resulting soul, his soul, didn’t have nearly the power needed to pass through the barrier and never would. From the moment he had come into the world, Sans had been a failure. Even his name meant ‘without’.

Red pinched the bridge of his nose, willing the thought's away. That line of thinking only led to a downward spiral he’d been struggling to keep himself out of ever since the cyan magic on his scrimshaw vanished.

“Woah, hey, I didn't mean to hit a nerve.” Stretch held his hands up in the interdimensional sign for surrender. 

“Sure,” Red grumbled. He let go of the thought, not willing to let himself fall apart over anything that clumsily fell out of this sugar skull’s mouth. “Fine, you know what? I'll tell Baby Blue how little Sanses are made. Probably better than you fucking it up.”

Stretch let out a hollow laugh, once again giving an incongruent response. “Probably…. You know, you owe me a cigarette.”

Red’s jaw almost dropped as he looked at the taller skeleton and there was really nothing he could do but break out into laughter. Every time he thought he had Stretch figured out, he did something to knock him back off balance. “How about a joint instead?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -Muffet’s is a haven for the spiders that were stuck in the Ruins who she rescued with Grillby's. She and Grillby are partners of sorts with him running a business in Hotland that sells her cider and donuts and her intervening on his behalf when he needs a tab collected.
> 
> -All Papyruses are the same age so Red is a few years older than Stretch. 
> 
> Check out this comic by rahafwabas [here](http://rahafwabas.tumblr.com/post/143254045855/underswap-is-a-happy-au-thaaaaaank-you) for one of my favorite interpretations of what would happen in an Underswap Genocide run.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Blue is a master of puzzles, but he still has some things to learn about dating.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: Mentions/talk of sex

Gradually, life started to feel less like a play that Blue acted in day after day. It wasn’t perfect or even back to how it had been, but it was better. He still checked the scrimshaw on his radius regularly only to wonder if the cyan magic would ever light up again, but now he had things to look forward to. Even his brother had started to be around more; it was nice to feel like whatever barrier had been forming between them wasn’t impassable. Of course Blue hadn’t mentioned to his brother that he was dating Edge yet. He planned to, eventually, it was just a matter of waiting for the right time.

“So the human has to figure out the missing numbers to know how many squares to move for each path.” Blue held up his notebook of Super Secret Puzzle Plans so that Edge could see the blueprint sketched on the page.

“And if they guess wrong they are met with excruciating pain,” Edge finished. They were in Underfell lounging on the couch, Blue reclining against Edge’s side while he went over his latest puzzle idea as Edge reviewed the considerable amount of paperwork actually involved with being the Royal Guard’s Second-in-Command.

“More like a light shock,” Blue corrected. It had only take a few times of Edge mentioning excruciating pain or some form of maiming for Blue to figure out he was teasing. Reading the subtlety in the smirk and the playful spark in his eyelights was something Blue had learned to pick up thanks to his brother that had proven to come in very handy in regards to the Underfell brothers.

“There is no point in that, then,” Edge said with a dismissive huff. 

“Queen Toriel doesn’t want the humans harmed,” Blue reminded him.

“No point to that, either.”

Blue stuck his tongue out at Edge, earning a playful snap as if he was threatening to bite it off. The barely audible clack of Edge’s jaws caused a little shiver down Blue’s spine. 

“You know, it’s been at least three dates and you still haven’t kissed me,” Blue murmured, cheekbones dusted with involuntary magic. He wanted to chase that shiver and know if it was caused by his imagination or chemistry. “The dating manual says three dates is customary before you do… things.”

“The dating manual is wrong.” Edge placed his paperwork aside as Blue scrambled to face him, both shocked and curious at his statement. “Kissing and ‘things’, as you so prudishly put it, are for whenever both partners feel ready for them.”

Blue’s brow creased in confusion. That was the last thing he expected anyone from Underfell to say, especially after his encounter with the dogs. “In anime they just kiss.”

Edge chuckled and Blue wondered if he should be insulted. “Yes, but anime isn’t real. Even Undyne knows that, at least in this universe. What if I kissed you and you didn’t want me to?”

“Don’t you just take what you want in Underfell?”

“Not if you care about who you are taking it from.” Edge took the notebook that had been left between them and moved it to the safety of the side table. “Admittedly I, the Greatest Papyrus, enjoy things being given to me. It’s a bit of a novelty here.”

Blue had never thought of it that way. Anime always made it seem like the ultimate romantic gesture. The hero would sweep their love interest into their arms and kiss them and the background would fade to something romantic like flowers or hearts. Then they would gaze into each other’s sparkly eyes. It looked like the best thing ever. Now that he thought about it, though, if it was someone Blue didn’t really know like Aaron or even someone he was friends with like Doggo he probably wouldn’t like it very much.

“Can I give you a kiss, then?” Blue held Edge’s appraising gaze as the other monster thought the request over. The shiver returned as he waited for the answer, which came with Edge’s finger tracing Blue’s jaw, luring him closer.

“I would like that,” the other skeleton practically purred. 

Edge’s smirk grew as Blue almost had to crawl towards him to get close enough, his tentative approach drawing out the anticipation. His soul subconsciously jumped at the impending contact as it sent whispers of magic out to greet the other. Their teeth met with a barely audible clack, allowing the boundaries of their souls to intermingle in a fleeting dance of touch and taste.

Blue was the one to deepen the kiss, Edge being content with simply taking whatever was given to him. Magic condensed around tongues to intensify the connection. The rawness of the contact with the underlying scrape of bone against bone was something that neither had ever experienced in encounters with monsters made of flesh.

“Undyne was looking for ya.”

The new voice caused Blue to jump back as if his boyfriend were suddenly electrified.

“Hey, don’t let me stop ya.” Much to Blue’s mortification, Red flopped down on the couch on the other side of him. “Just passing on information.”

“I should probably go find her, then. Stars know she cannot do anything productive without my invaluable input.” Edge glowered, but it did not seem caused his brother’s interruption. The grim expression softened when he looked at Blue. “I may not return before you leave so may I have another kiss before I go?”

Blue glanced at Red before giving another, much shorter kiss to Edge. Underswap was not as open with more than chaste shows of affection, but Red did not seem to mind walking in on his brother and alternate-dimensional self so things in Underfell must be different. Now that Blue thought about it, it did make sense considering how openly suggestive the exchange between Red and this universe’s Doggo had been.

“My dating manual is upstairs if you would like to borrow it. I think it differs from yours in some significant ways.” Edge’s fingers lingered on the vertebrae of Blue’s neck where they had come to rest. “Just don’t let Red in my room.”

“Oh, um, ok.” 

“Psh, I just hid your alarm clock once, ya big baby.” Red kicked his feet up, shoes and all, on the couch. As usual, he was unperturbed by the daggers his brother shot at him.

“You hid eight of them set to go off every hour during the night,” Edge growled. He stood up, reluctantly moving away from Blue. “Not to mention you moved your fucking sock to my room.”

“Hey, you said you wanted me to pick it up.”

Edge glowered. “I’m not even dignifying that with a response.”

“I once put pop caps in Stretch’s cigarettes.” The immediate attention given to Blue made him wonder if he should have just stayed out of the exchange. Usually he did. “Not strong enough to hurt him of course.”

He knew he was blushing, though he wasn't quite sure why, and his hands found his pockets as he shrunk in on himself. This banter was a brother thing and he chastised himself for interrupting it.

Then Red nearly fell off the couch laughing and Edge gave his boyfriend an amused smirk. It caused a flood of relief as the tension gathering in Blue broke. 

“That is why I admire you, Blue.” Edge bent down to kiss Blue’s skull. “There is some sour to your sweet.”

“And here I thought you just wanted to jump his bones,” Red interjected between laughs.

“There are many reasons why the Sansational Blue meets the high standards of the Greatest Papyrus,” Edge sniffed. “Now if you are quite finished, I have very important guard duties to attend to.”

“You know it probably wasn’t that important.”

“Quiet, Sans!” Edge struck a dramatic pose. “Anything involving the Captain and Commander of the Royal Guard must be of the utmost importance.”

“Like smashing tomatoes.”

“That is essential training!”

Red chuckled. “Whatever you say, Boss.”

“I do say.”

“She might have been looking for the paperwork,” Blue pointed out. He had moved to gather it into a neat stack for Edge. “You did say it needed to be submitted by the morning.”

Edge took the stack as Blue offered it to him. “That is probably it,” he admitted, “and it is complete, I just was hoping for a chance to make sure all my x’s were symmetrical.”

“I’m sure it's perfect. After all, you did it.”

Whenever he could get Edge to smile, Blue’s soul warmed and fluttered in a way it hadn’t ever really fluttered before. It didn’t take much to figure out that such smiles were rare so each one was like a secret or a gift Edge was sharing with him.

“Thank you, Blue. Red!”

Red waved off the suddenly harsh tone. “Yeah, yeah, make sure he gets home safely and don’t come back smelling like an ashtray.”

“Very good. Perhaps you are not as lazy and useless as you appear. Goodbye, Blue.”

“Bye, Edge.” 

Red waited until his brother had left before he turned to Blue, the magic in his good eye smoldering like a hot coal.

“You know if you hurt him, you're going to have a bad time.” It was impossible to miss the shift in tone. The usual sarcasm and wit that would soften such threats had disappeared completely.

Blue didn’t back down, however. He knew something had happened between his own brother and Red. He was a master of puzzles, after all. He had noticed the mud on the hem of his brother’s shorts and the sleeves of his hoodie as well as how he had shifted uneasily when Blue had asked if he and Red had a good time. It was a quick lapse in Stretch’s usual nonchalance, but it was there. Then there was the awkwardness that had lingered every time Stretch and Red were in the same room.

“Same.” Blue’s own magic swirled in his eyes as he mimicked Red’s threat. Underfell rules had to be considered while in Underfell, after all.

“Huh.” The malice vanished from Red as if a switch had been hit. “I guess it would make sense that both your eyes still worked.

“What?” Blue blinked, the glow in his sockets dimming to their normal shine. “Of course they still work. Sans’s do.”

“Not magic-wise,” Red clarified. He tapped his right temple and the eyelight in his empty socket tried to flicker to life in response. “This one went out during the Core Incident. Mine just got more trauma. Really only get light and shadow from it now. You weren’t there, though, were you?”

“No.” A beat of silence passed between them. “Are we done threatening each other?”

Red shrugged. “Yeah, no fun in it anyway. Not like it’s anything you don’t already know.”

“I am you in a sense.”

“Makes you dating my bro weird, doesn't it?”

Blue shifted uncomfortably in his seat. It was definitely something he had thought about, though he tried to never follow those thoughts too far. “Well, yeah, but Edge and Papy are really different. We're all really different, aren't we?” He wrung his hands. “There are certain things we share and probably on the base level we are the same, but a lot of monsters have things in common.”

Red quirked a brow bone, unable to help asking his next question. “So if we fucked would it be sex or masturbation?”

“Red!” Blue’s face completely flushed in his mortification. It was beyond him how anyone could even think such a thing, much less say it aloud. “That’s… you can't say things like that! It's lewd.”

“Lewd in Underfell is the least of your worries, kid. Sex is one of the few pleasures we can exchange down here so ain’t nobody got time for being a prude.”

“Then why wouldn’t Edge kiss me until I asked?”

“Because everything here is about retaliation. Meaning if you want a good time, you better be damn well sure the other person wants it too. At least that’s the underlying thought. Most monsters would just like to know it’s a mutual thing. Makes it mean something even if it’s just getting each other’s rocks off.”

“So Doggo wouldn’t have gnawed on my bones?”

“Not in a sexual way without your expressed consent. Don't get me wrong, the dogs would have roughed you up, but the separation between assault and sex is kept pretty wide here.”

“Huh.” Blue would definitely have to borrow Edge’s dating manual then, if for no other reason than to avoid any cultural misunderstandings. He would hate to do something that Edge was uncomfortable with or seem incompetent just because Underswap was a place where sex was kept a private thing.

“Not what you expected, I take it.” Red shook his head with a low chuckle.

“I’m not really sure what I expected. It seems like everything else here is just taken by the strongest.” Blue found himself unable to look at the other skeleton in the eyes as he realized how quickly he had been to assume the worse, even about Edge. 

“Don’t beat yourself up over it. I have my own judgements about your universe that probably aren’t completely true. Still can’t figure out why you would need a Royal Guard in that cotton candy puff palace.”

“To capture humans, of course!” Blue’s chest puffed up a little. Talking about the Royal Guard was always a good distraction for him. “We can’t just let them wander around unsupervised. Someone could get hurt.”

“You’re telling me,” Red grumbled under his breath. The less observant may not have seen the shadow pass over his face, but Blue was very perceptive. It was short lived, however, and followed by a quick redirection that signaled no amount of prying or prodding would get Red to reveal anything further. “So both your eyes work, but your magic still isn’t as strong as mine or Sans’s.”

Blue opened his mouth to protest only to close it with an audible click. They had done a few tests and the results didn’t lie. “I’m younger than you are,” he pointed out instead, “and the Man Who Speaks in Hands probably didn’t have as much to work with to create me since he used some to patch up Papy’s… Stretch’s soul.”

“Might be true, but… wait. You know about all of that?”

“Mwehehe, the Sansational Blue is a master of puzzles trained by the head of the Royal Guard herself.” Blue’s posture straightened to match the pride in the boast. It certainly felt nice to be a step ahead for once. “While you and Sans were doing your science thing, I read Sans’s notes.”

“And you deciphered the hands.”

“Yep, it wasn’t too different from the cryptograms Dr. Undyne sometimes makes for me. It was also kind of familiar, I guess?”

Red considered this turn of events for a moment. This probably wasn’t the first time he had underestimated the seemingly naive bundle of bones.

“So how’d you figure out the journal? I assume you found it in Stretch’s workshop.”

“It was simple. No puzzle can outwit the Sansational….”

“You got lucky,” Red interrupted, “didn’t you?”

With the wind knocked out of his sails, Blue slumped down into a posture much more similar to the one his counterparts were usually in. “Yes. I knocked it over and when I picked it up with my magic I noticed the ink reacting.”

“No shame in getting lucky, kiddo. You know, Stretch was all worried that the news was going to give you an existential crisis or something.”

“It sort of did,” Blue admitted, looking up at Red. The other skeleton noticed the magic that usually colored the younger’s eye lights had dimmed, making him look even more like Sans. “You and Sans aren’t any less real for how you were created, though, so why should I be? Though sometimes I do think about it more than I would like. It’s part of the reason I don’t like sleeping or being lazy. I wish I understood how you are so comfortable being alone with your thoughts.”

“Hey, I am excellent company.” What Red didn’t say was that he wasn’t really comfortable at all, just exhausted. His thoughts were demanding and it had become much easier to give in to them then it was to keep trying to distract himself. “So… I know you can take shortcuts, but have you figured out the blasters yet?”

Blue’s brow creased. “Blasters?” The light in his eyes returned along with his grin. “That certainly sounds like something that would be useful for a Royal Guardsman to have.”

“Oh, you have no idea. The forest is secluded enough for me to show you some things” Red pushed himself up. When he looked back at Blue he had a smirk pulling at the corner of his mouth that prominently displayed his gold tooth. “Come on. I know a shortcut.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -Blue is still Sans, he's just younger and hasn't gone through a lot of the things Sans and Red have. So he might be naive at times and not have been 'broken' by the resets, but he's still very smart. His puzzles are therefore more intellectually challenging than Papyrus's or Edge's.
> 
> -Underfell's main law is retribution so nothing is done without that in mind. This means that consent is actually considered very important. Actual love and affection are still rare, but mutually beneficial arrangements are not.
> 
> Have a question about Across the Multiverse 'canons'? I'd be happy to answer them in the comments.


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